so what if christians extend their charity/love to muslim? or maybe i should ask the other way round – so what if muslim turned to the church for charity?

in our church, we have a beautiful hymn with the title 'this is my commandment' which talks about charity.

REFRAIN: this is my commandment, love one another as i have loved you

1. charity is kind, charity feels no envy charity bears up to the end

2. charity is meek, charity seeks not its own charity has faith to the end

3. charity is mild, charity thinks no evil charity can hope to the end

4. charity is just, charity finds joy in truth charity is patient to the end

read the wordings carefully. see? conversion is never ever on our mind at all when we do charity.

for the christians, these words may sound familiar. ahh…. where have you heard it? of course! in the bible… but wait, the word 'charity' is not there; instead it is 'love'. do look up the bible 1st corinthians 13:4-13. well, didn't i already mentioned in my earlier post that charity is love and love is charity. (actually some version of the bible use 'charity' instead of 'love&#39.

endable, and yet, not one duty is less practiced, than that of charity. We often pretend concern and pity for the misery and distress of our fellow-creatures, but yet we seldom commiserate their condition so much as to relieve them according to our abilities; but unless we assist them with what they may stand in need of, for the body, as well as for the soul, all our wishes are no more than words of no value or regard: for when we hear of any deplorable circumstance, in which our fellow-creatures are involved, be they friends or enemies; it is our duty, as Christians, to assist them to the utmost of our power.

that is only the first paragraph. if you are interested, do click on the link and continue reading.

yes, as a writer, moaz nair, pointed out, charity work is sort of the hallmark of the christianity faith. that's why, the christian federation of malaysia (CFM) in its national day message/press statement, stressed that they want more freedom to do charity works.

his wise, out-spoken statement can be found in malaysiakini too, CnP as below. following it, is write-up from a muslim convert who talked about how the christians helped his adopted daughter, and about catholic/protestant churches vs the evangelical churches.

Former Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said that one of the 12 Muslims who were present at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church's Aug 3 event had denied having converted to Christianity.

While the woman did concede that there were others who have embraced Christianity, she had remained faithful to Islam.

The conversions, Asri (left) said, was the fault of the country's Islamic institutions for failing to help underprivileged Muslims.

"The single mother I met was deserted by her husband and had to raise three children. She could not afford to pay the rental for the house where she was staying and had gone to the Islamic authorities for help, but was turned away.

"Only after she got a support letter from a politician did she get zakat tithe. She was also turned down by the Welfare Department," he said.

Asri said that the woman had confided in him that a Christian friend had recommended her to seek help, which led to her relationship with the church, though there was no mention of which church it was.

"How can she experience the greatness of Islam when her fellow Muslims do not care about her and refuse to help her?… When her children are sick the church cares, her livelihood is supported by the church and even her daily needs were provided," he lamented.

According to Asri, the DUMC dinner was not the first time that the woman was caught by the Islamic authorities.

Following the first incident, the Zakat Department promised to help her to open a kindergarden, but when it was not forthcoming, the church again stepped in to assist in paying the rent of the premises.

"Despite being a devoted Muslim, she often bring her children to church. Her children are instilled with Christian teachings by the church. They are taught hymns and certain moral values. For her, all this is done as a matter of survival."

Asri explained that he was told there were many other underprivileged Muslims who were in a similar position had allegedly converted because they were disappointed by the uncaring attitude of the Muslim community and were influenced by the church's goodwill, even though they were not forced to do so.

Do more to help poor Muslims

The former mufti urged Muslims to take responsibility for the situation rather than bashing Christians and churches.

"If we want to escape responsibility, it's easy, we blame it all on the church. We blame them for being the source of all problems. And then we demonstrate and fuel public sentiments against the church for carrying out charity and missionary work.

"But when we do not help and carry out missionary work, we do not blame ourselves. Is this what we have become?" he asked.

While acknowledging the good work of the Islamic authorities, Asri called on them to do more by seeking out poor Muslims and assisting them.

"If the zakat system is working, even non-Muslims will be attracted to Islam, but if the zakat system is not working, even Muslims will want to leave the religion," he exclaimed.

Early this month, Jais raided a dinner that was held within DUMC compound which was attended by 12 Muslims.

The raid has fuelled speculations of proselytisation among Muslims. However, the organisers of the event, Harapan Komuniti, had clarified that it was a HIV fundraiser event.

COMMENT My name is Barry Morgan and I'm 85 years old. I am a Malaysian citizen who arrived from England in 1948 just when the Emergency was commencing.

I worked in plantations and at one time owned an estate in Bruas, Perak. Since the time I sold the property in the late 1990s, I have had more time to follow national issues.

The one that preoccupies me these days is apostasy from Islam. In 1964, I married a Muslim and embraced the faith.

My wife and I had four children and we adopted two others, one an Indian girl. We brought her up as a Muslim but when we attempted to obtain an identity card for her in 1983, it was refused.

The officer at the Ipoh Registration Department made a huge fuss and insisted the girl was Indian and Hindu. My wife, who passed away last year, remonstrated but was unsuccessful in shifting the officer.

As a consequence, my adopted daughter was regarded as a Hindu and treated as such in school.

When she was 16 and studying in Kuala Lumpur, she met and married a staunch member of one of the evangelical Christian groups then mushrooming in the Klang Valley.

Her husband worked in a law firm which was owned by an equally fervent member of the same denomination who converted every employee on her payroll.

My adopted daughter's husband was originally a Hindu. His conversion was met with rejection by his family.

My wife and I were unhappy with our adopted daughter's decision to become a Christian upon marriage but we accepted her right to choose her faith.

Vexed question of proselytisation

The couple had two children before difficulties in the marriage arose. My wife and I were concerned for our adopted daughter and her children.

But our concern was no match for that shown by the members of the church at which the couple worshiped. They rendered the family unstinting support and compassion which had the effect of healing the marriage.

Today my adopted daughter and spouse have three children who are happy to attend church services and live a Christian life of admirable fidelity.

I'm amazed at the support their church gives, not only to them but also to anyone in need, whether it is to unwed mothers, abused wives, children in need of daycare, the jobless, and the sick.

The support is stupendous and frequently rendered by tertiary-qualified women. Their dedication is hugely impressive.

In my occasional interactions with this group of dedicatees, I have tried to tell them they should not try to convert Muslims, the ones who resort to them when they are in need and are much taken by the evangelicals' dedication to their welfare. The reaction to my advice was a polite silence.

Though I'm Malaysian, I'm British by orientation; I know how the British colonial administration handled this issue in India.

They strongly discouraged evangelical clergymen from proselytising Muslim Indians because of the social turbulence it caused.

If the British administrators found evangelicals doing so, the latter would be on the ship back to where they came from.

In India, the mainline Protestant churches and Roman Catholics abided by the stricture against proselytising among Muslim Indians.

But these churches were not discouraged by the British from converting Indians languishing in the nether categories of the Hindu caste system.

The need to show restraint

In Malaya, the British adopted the same attitude: they discouraged Christian proselytisation of Muslims. But recalcitrants from this stricture were almost non-existent – the mainline Protestants and Catholic churches largely adhered to this restriction, subscribing to the tacit social understanding that they should not convert Muslims.

However, evangelical Christianity is a modern-day phenomenon, an importation from the Bible Belt of the United States. They take Jesus's instruction – "Go and make disciples of all nations" – before his ascension into heaven in deadly earnest.

The Protestants and Catholics won't attempt to restrain the evangelicals, although they frown on their missionary fervour. This is because the evangelicals would accuse them of being tepid in their faith and oblivious of Jesus's commandant.

Also, evangelical churches are independent of each other and reject a centralised, hierarchical authority such as the Catholics have and, to a less rigid extent, the Protestants. Hence the attainment and enforcement of consensus among Christians is difficult to bring about.

One finds that on the issue of Christian proselytisation of Muslims there are a host of complexities resistant to easy resolution.

Despite the reluctance of Catholic and Protestant churches, mindful of the recent intrusion by Jais into the Damansara Utama Methodist Centre, they must persuade the evangelical churches to show restraint on the vexed question of proselytisation.

To fail to do so will only cause uneasiness among Muslims and encourage more interventions by the Muslim authorities.

Finally, the government should take steps to facilitate adoption by Muslims.

Me: Good evening, I would like to book a budget taxi to KLIA @ 6:30am tomorrow (Aug 27th 2011).

Receptionist: Sorry sir, we only have available taxi after 9am.

Me: Oh... how about premium?

Receptionist: It's full too.

I wondered it's because of too many customers or the total of taxi got reduced as some of them already Balik Kampung (returning to hometown). So i have no choice to ask my friend to send me to KL Sentral. Hopefully i could check in and leave the baggage @ KL Sentral. Then they will send over to KLIA :p

Okay, I better hit the bed now. i only have 4 hours sleep. Need to wake up @ 5:30am. Nite nite.

I haven't been blogging much these days. It seems the mojo is nowhere to be seen. I remember a time when I would have loads of things to say and have a post every day. These days, just sitting and trying to think of something to blog takes a huge effort.

It's not that I don't have things to blog about. God knows I've got loads and loads of stuff to complain about and cool things like rfid blocking walletto tell you about but everytime I sit here and want to put it all to words, nothing comes out. The mind will just turn completely blank!

I guess work and stuff, especially my running has taken up more of my time these days. I'm so hung up on running that I'd rather be pounding the roads than sitting here blogging. In fact, these days I'd rather be doing anything 'running' than sitting at my laptop so much so that any office work I take home doesn't even get done ... hahaha!

But fret not, though I have not much inspiration to blog these days (and I hope it comes back soon), I shall write a few words or two to complain and bitch about something at least once a week ... LOL!

With that said and done, here's wishing all my Muslim buddies a beautiful Hari Raya and if you're going to be on the roads this holidays, please be safe..

I'm not sure whether Malaysians are the most compliant people in the world, as a recent global survey suggested, but some may well be in the running for the most credulous.

Or was it simply the power of wishful thinking that got many so excited about Najib Abdul Razak's proposed parliamentary select committee for electoral reform?

Whichever, it's high time people stopped kidding themselves and faced the incontrovertible fact everything Umno/BN says or does is, as I've so often asserted in this column, nothing but a total con.

From Abdul Razak Hussein's conducting the May 13 riots in 1969 in his conspiracy to replace Tunku Abdul Rahman as prime minister, to his son's recent promise to reform the rotten electoral system, Umno/BN has conned Malaysians in every conceivable fashion.

Yet even 22 years of being taken for a ride by Malaysia's supreme conman, Mahathir Mohamad, and now two of his successors, doesn't appear to have eroded people's naive belief that someday Umno/BN will be persuaded or pressured to go straight.

How many more hundreds of billions of their hard-earned ringgit do Malaysians have to be conned out of before the penny drops that Umno/BN plunder will never stop?

How many more deaths in police and MACC custody will it take to kill their hopes that Umno/BN will someday clean up its act?

How many more trumped-up sodomy charges will Anwar Ibrahim have to suffer before the populace finally gets fed-up with such obscene scams?

And how many of Umno/BN's fraudulent royal commissions and select committees - or rather royal conmissions and select conmittees - will it take for the rakyat to realise that it's forever being taken for a ride?

If there's any truth in the old saying "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," then people who have allowed themselves to be fooled literally countless times should be almost terminally ashamed of themselves.

Especially in light of the supreme efforts that the citizens of Tunisia and Egypt have made to get rid of the con-artists who have ruled them for decades, and the supreme sacrifices the youth of Libya and the umma in Syria are making to do likewise.

Time to stop dreaming the impossible dream

So surely it's about time that Malaysians stopped dreaming the impossible dream of Umno/BN reform and drew the line at being conned any further by this lying, cheating regime.

Let's get a little cynical here. Who cares whether Najib Razak promises a select conmittee into his regime's corrupt electoral system, or how he wants to compose it, or whether it will or won't report before the next general election?

It's as plain as the nose on his face, or better yet as his lying pink lips, that it is yet another stalling tactic, just like previous royal conmissions into scandals like the police force, the judiciary and the MACC murder of Teoh Beng Hock.

And in any event, what's to investigate about the accursed electoral system and the tricksters who run the electoral conmission?

The demands by Bersih are clear and simple enough. But in case the regime has forgotten them in its contemptible scramble to confuse the issue by conning the 'silent majority' that the July 9 marchers were a threat to Malaysia's social order, here they are again:

A thorough review of the electoral roll.

Reforms to the postal balloting process.

Indelible marking of voters who have cast their ballots.

A minimum 21-day campaigning period.

Equitable access to media for all participating parties.

Strengthen institutions which enforce election laws.

Eradication of electoral bribery.

Putting a stop to dirty politics.

What's so complex here that requires a year's discussion by the very conmen who created Malaysia's scandalous electoral inequity and whose political survival depends on preserving it?

The first of these eight demands, a thorough review of the electoral roll, should by rights be always ongoing. But instead the roll remains riddled with ghosts, clones and crowds of people registered at the one address.

azlanReforms to the postal balloting process are obviously urgently required, with army officers admitting abuses that have long been common knowledge, and Chief of the Armed Forces, General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin supporting Umno/BN by accusing the whistle-blowers of "disloyalty" to the regime.

Instead of relatively cheap ink for indelible marking of fingers of voters who have cast their ballots, the powers-that-be have opted for an expensive biometric system that appears to be both financially fraudulent and open to abuse.

A minimum 21-day campaigning period is a total no-brainer. Equitable access to media for all parties would be a simple matter of repealing Umno/BN's pernicious Printing Presses and Publications Act, itself an unconstitutional con.

And the final three demands would simply entail proper enforcement of existing laws and regulations that are routinely ignored or broken by the ruling regime.

Depending on imbalance in their favour

All this being said, however, Najib and his henchpersons in Umno/BN clearly have no intention whatever of reforming Malaysia's electoral system, as they depend on its imbalance in their favour for their survival in the next general election.

In fact they continue to claim that Bersih 2.0 is an illegal organisation, and that there is nothing wrong with the electoral system.

azlanAs Umno/BN's parliamentary shyster Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz recently recently stated, "we feel that there are no actions under the present laws that could result in an unfair or not free election." He then went on to claim that that the proposed parliamentary select committee is a mere "preventive measure" to avoid "mishaps" such as double voting in the future.

In other words, Najib's 'reform' initiative is, as ever, nothing but a sandiwara, a charade and a fraud.

So clearly, if Malaysians don't want themselves conned into yet another rigged general election, and shamed by yet more years of compliance with the Umno/BN system of repression, corruption and plunder, it's time for them to finally get real.

To abandon for once and for all their false and forlorn hopes of Umno/BN reform, and follow Bersih 2.0 with Bersih 3.0, 4.0 and however many more massive public protests it takes to free themselves from 54 years of rule by this gang of crooks and conmen.

-Written by Dean Johns-

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include 'Mad about Malaysia', 'Even Madder about Malaysia', 'Missing Malaysia' and '1Malaysia.con'.

An Australian DNA expert says the government scientist's conclusions were not scientifically objective.

KUALA LUMPUR: Government scientist Dr Seah Lay Hong's conclusions in her chemistry report, which subsequently enabled the prosecution to allege that Anwar Ibrahim's sperm was found in Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan's anus, were based on mere guesswork, an Australian expert told the High Court here today.

Dr Dr Brian Leslie McDonald, an Australian consultant molecular geneticist, said the report was not "scientifically objective" when continuing his testimony in Anwar's Sodomy II trial.

Yesterday, the DNA expert said that in sexual assault cases, it was critical to be able identify that a DNA sample is derived from the sperm cell.

In order to conclusively say that a DNA profile comes from sperm, as opposed to other types of cells, a chemist needs to separate sperm cells from other types of cells by conducting a "differential extraction process".

He said this was evident in her own "guess" that there were still other types of cells present after the separation process.

"If she maintained that the DNA (found in Saiful's anus) is from the epithelial cells (non-sperm cells), then she should have done the separation process again," he said.

'Ball bearings'

McDonald said if the process was done right, the sample should only have had sperm cells remaining.

"She could not have been scientifically objective in her conclusions. She had no evidence to support them, " he said.

Asked by Ram if it was then possible that the one DNA profile found in Saiful's anus may have been his own sperm, McDonald agreed, saying that Seah's finding excludes nothing; it may even include the possibility that the DNA profile might have been from Anwar's other cells and not sperm.

Previously, Anwar's defence had suggested that one of the two DNA profiles from the semen found in Saiful belonged to the complainant himself.

Earlier, explaining the differential extraction process (DEP), McDonald said sperm cells are tough, like "ball bearings"; while the other types of cells, being much weaker, are like "balloons".

He walks the court through how a scientist can separate sperm from other cells by "bursting the balloons" through the DEP.

Yesterday, McDonald was critical of the several mistakes made by local chemists in the labelling of a DNA sample, saying that Seah had committed a "sackable offence" that is so serious that it "could have killed someone".

Just a while ago, my friend TO who lives in Hertford sent me a link that knocked me out.

According to that article, scientists claim that a mouse-like creature that scurried about in bushes and trees 160 million years ago gave rise to humans.

Apparently, that small, furry placental mammal lived in what is now north east China during the Jurassic era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

This proposition came about when its remarkably well preserved remains were dug up in the fossil-rich region of Liaoning Province which has also produced ancient evidence of feathered dinosaurs and primitive birds.

The fossil, named Juramaia sinensis, is the oldest ever found of a group of animals called the eutherians, or placentals, that give birth to live young.

Others include cows, rats, monkeys, lions, tigers, dogs, horses, whales and, of course, our own group of mammals, the primates.

Juramaia, hairy and about the size of a mouse, provides fossil evidence of the date when eutherian mammals diverged from other mammals - metatherians whose descendants include marsupials such as kangaroos and monotremes such as the platypus.

So finally I'm back in Penang after eight days away from home. Had been spending time at the Malaysia Chess Festival. For the second year running, I was taking part in the senior open tournament there. Last year there were 18 players in the field but a decision by the organisers to lower the age limit from 55 years to 50 years meant that more could take part. This year the players increased to 29.

Personally, I say that it was not a wise decision to lower the age limit. It allowed many younger players to muscle their way into a competition that was not meant for them. Besides, it has always been accepted in this country that 55 is the retirement age (as least for the private sector) and anyone past this age would be called a senior citizen.

Nevertheless I'm quite glad that I participated. But it took me a while to get going again. The long lay-offs from playing competition chess, even in the local chess scene, had meant that I was out of touch mentally and competitively. Losing my sense of danger too and opening myself to dangerous attacks. That was how I capitulated in my first and last games.

Still, getting four and a half points from nine games wasn't that all too bad. Many of the participants ended up with this score, myself among them too. But I wouldn't complain over an extra half point or even a full point, would you?

My only consolation is that I may finally end up with an international rating. Imagine that, I've been in the game for more than 40 years and this could be my time in the Fide rating list! As I had played three rated players last year and six this year, I should have satisfied the condition of a minimum of nine games against rated players. But I don't expect my rating points to be high; I'll be happy enough if it ever touches 2000 points.

Anyway, it's still early days and the Malaysian Chess Federation still has to submit the rating report to the World Chess Federation. But I should know by end of the year...

Deputy Minister of Plantation, Industries and Commodities Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin was reported to have remarked that he was curious to know what was the Bar Council's stand on Anuar Ibrahim decision to give his testimony from the dock, thus denying the prosecution to cross examined Anuar Ibrahim in the ongoing sodomy trial.

I am not a lawyer but I am not that stupid too, not to understand what the three options given to Anuar Ibrahim by the trial judge Datuk Zabidin Mohd Diah implies. Of the three options (I suggest Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin finds out what the three options are himself), Anuar Ibrahim choose to give his testimony from the dock, and by electing this option, Anuar Ibrahim will not be subject to be cross examined by the prosecution team. Since there were three options given, the onus to elect either one of the option lies with Anuar Ibrahim himself, and not with the Bar Council or any particular UMNO lawyer or Hamzah Zainuddin himself. What sort of remark coming from a deputy minister is mind boggling.

Now you see the kind of shallow mindset aka dummies some people are, and worse still of a deputy minister in not wanting to understand the privileges that an accused person has even during a trial. It was the trial judge himself that allowed the options and certainly he would not have wronged Anuar Ibrahim for having elect to give his testimony from the dock. So why is Hamzah Zainuddin questioning Anuar Ibrahim rights to the option? Why not question the judge himself if he (Hamzah) thinks he is smarter than the judge and the judge is wrong? Was Hamzah Zainuddin suggesting that Anuar Ibrahim should give his testimony from the witness stand, thus enabling the prosecuting team to cross examine the latter? This is a rather silly thought where even a first year law student would have understood the difference.

And not having had enough of what was said by Hamzah Zainuddin, comes our Puteri UMNO Chief Rosnah who said that Anuar Ibrahim should have the courage to give his testimony from the witness stand, and be subjected to a cross examination. What silly talk is this? Like her UMNO counterpart Hamzah Zainuddin, if she does not have inkling as to the legal process and rights of the accuse, it is better that she remains mute. And to both of them, I say this…………..that it is wiser not to talk on something that you do not know; least you will not be looked at like a fool.

PETALING JAYA: Police shot dead a soldier and wounded another when they tried to rob an illegal cyber cafe in Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh here yesterday.

The soldiers, who were armed with a Glock semi-automatic pistol and a 'kerambit', had gone into the shop, unaware that there were two policemen posing as customers inside.

Selangor police chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the two men knocked on the cafe's back door before they were let in by its operator about 6.45am.

"Soon after they entered the cyber cafe, one of the men took out a Glock pistol and ordered the operator to hand over all the money.

"The undercover police officers, who were in the middle of an operation, confronted the suspects and a shootout ensued."

He said the man with the pistol was shot dead, while his accomplice, who was wounded, ran away. The two policemen were unhurt.

"About an hour after the shootout, police received information that the second suspect had gone to Damansara Damai and he was arrested there.

"We believe that the robbers might have had another accomplice, who drove the wounded suspect in a black Naza Citra to Damansara Damai."

Meanwhile, a military spokesman confirmed that the two men were attached to the Military Police Training Centre (Pulapol) -- the dead man was a staff sergeant and his wounded accomplice was a ranger. -NST

I left a message in the alumni page @ Facebook asking one of my ex colleague who has volunteered to organize the gathering cum drinking. This ex colleagues of mine sure very busy until he lost track of the gathering.

Few days back, i tagged him in the message that i written in Facebook. Telling him to organize the drinking session. Guess what? he tried to arrange during the weekends... Sad Sad i would not be able to join this weekend. Flying off to Country "V".

I would like to share with my readers a comment from a senior colleague of mine regarding the highly 'controversial statement' made by the Chief of Defence Forces recently, concerning the revelation made by four ex-servicemen on postal voting that they claimed were mired in abuses. Let it be known that whatever comments made by my colleague and I in this posting is not intended to belittle or to ridicule the Generals of the AF. It is merely a voice to remind the AF leadership that the retirees are still mindful of what goes on in the AF today, and that the AF remains true to their avowed profession i.e. as defenders of the nation.

LT KOL IDRIS BIN HASSAN (Retired) wrote:

I refer to "The army is apolitical" (The Star, Aug 19) with Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Zulkifeli Mohd Zain refuting claims by four ex-soldiers that they were ordered to cast postal votes for other officers and their wives while they were in service. The General went on to rebuke the public by saying "people need to show their support for the army's role in the country, and asking, "How can we be loyal to you when you are disloyal to us?"

With due respect, the CDF needs to be reminded that we as a nation were able to successfully defeat the Japanese during World War 2 when they occupied our country, repel the enemy forces during the Indonesian Confrontation, and rout the communist terrorist during the Emergency largely because the rakyat supported the army by giving vital information on enemy movements.

Many joined vigilante corps like the Home Guard and fought alongside the army. Thousands of them lost their lives in reprisal action by the enemy. The public has always supported, and will continue to support the army to protect our beloved homeland. To say the public is disloyal is perhaps not the best choice of words.

The army is the combatant arm of the nation. Its duty is to defend the country and the way of life the nation has chosen for itself. The army's foremost duty is loyalty to King and country and of obedience to the orders of the government of the day. It remains a political and owes no allegiance whatsoever to any political party. It is for this very reason that soldiers are required to abstain from taking part in politics, directly or indirectly. The intention is to keep the army from conflicting currents so that it may retain the team spirit which is so vital for its success.

The restrictions, however do not bar soldiers from holding opinions on matter that concern them as citizens, but from expressing such as are likely to jeopardize the trust the nation and the people have placed in them. Our Generals too are at times to be blame when the impartiality of our army is questioned.

I remember reading in an English language tabloid, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you", RMAF Chief tells personnel. The action of the outgoing RMAF Chief was most inappropriate when he said that "those who wear the uniform by right should vote for the existing government, as we have benefitted from the present administration".

The General was probably trying to score some brownie points in the hope of earning a lucrative appointment in retirement which is usually the case. Sadly, such statements from a very senior officer and a service chief at that do not augur well for the impartiality of the army.

At this level, the CDF is not only a soldier but also a diplomat; he should not display combatant body language when appearing on national TV. This is also no longer a time when a mere denial would suffice and the problem would go away. Perhaps the CDF needs to check the present system of postal voting in all military establishments and suggest changes if necessary.

KUCHING: State opposition PKR has accused the Sarawak government of "abusing and misusing" the office of the state Attorney-General's Chambers (A-G) to defend the wrong-doings of a few who continue grabbing native customary rights (NCR) land.

According to PKR vice-chairman See Chee How, the state government is "constantly" denying court rulings favouring natives on NCR land.

"The High Courts, the Court of Appeal and even the Federal Court have spoken and ruled on the recognition of NCR according to the customary practice of the natives concerned, but the state government chose to have its own restrictive interpretation.

"The state government is in its denial mode and likely to continue doing so, no matter how many cases are decided in favour of the native communities that have chosen to stand up against the state Barisan Nasional regime.

"To me, it has reached the extent that it is an abuse and misuse of the office of the state Attorney- General's Chambers to defend the wrong-doings of a few who continue their land grabbing," he said.

See, who is also Batu Lintang assemblyman, said the most affected are the investors as they will not be able to recover their investments, having paid dearly for the land and ended up having to re-negotiate with the native landowners.

"In the first place, they should have been able to have (direct) joint ventures with the native landowners and thereby derive mutual benefits.

"Instead, they used Pelita (Land Development and Protection Board) and deprived the natives of their rights.

Losing investors' trust

"The state government is gradually but obviously losing the trust of genuine investors.

"Eventually, more and more of the rural landowners will realise their mistakes of voting for these BN politicians.

"The popular votes for the BN had been slashed 8% in the last state election to 55%.

"It is losing ground and it is just a matter of time that they will be voted out of office," said See.

See, who is a lawyer with Baru Bian Advocates, was commenting on a suit brought by Jubang Anak Punjab, Juslin Majang Anak Pundu, Mat Anak Tanggon and the residents of Kampung Sual, Simunjan, against First Binary Sdn Bhd, the director of forestry, the director of Land and Survey Department and the state government for encroaching into 168 acres of their NCR land.

The Kuching High Court Judicial Commissioner Ravinthran Paramaguru, who heard the case, declared that Jubang, Juslin Majang, Mat Anak and the residents of Kampung Sual are the owners of the disputed 168 acres.

Ravinthran said that in view of his acceptance of the evidence on oral history and tradition in respect of the NCR land claim over the disputed area, he was only prepared to grant a declaration that the plaintiffs have established NCR over the 168 acres.

"As the plaintiffs have only succeeded partially against the government, I shall reduce the costs that they are entitled to.

"I shall order the second defendant (director of forest), the third defendant (director of Land and Surveys) and the fourth defendant (the state government) to pay costs of RM30,000 to the plaintiffs.

"In so far as the first defendant (First Binary) is concerned, at the time the suit was filed in 2007, the timber licence subsisted.

"In the premises, I shall order the first defendant to bear their own costs," he said.

See represented the natives, while Allan Lao and Lidwina Kiew of Messrs David, Sagah and Teng Advocates, Kuching, appeared for First Binary.

Dayang Jamillah Tun Salahuddin of the state Attorney-General's Chambers represented the director of forestry, director of Land and Survey Department and the state government.

So far, Baru Bian Advocates has successfully represented more than 10 NCR land cases and more than 100 are still pending at the High Court.